Speaker 1: Hi, I'm wanh and this is the big take from Bloomberg.
Speaker 1: Welcome to our second special report from Taiwan. Taiwanese voters
Speaker 1: elected a new president over the weekend. History on the
Speaker 1: streets of the Taiwanese capital tonight, thousands of people are
Speaker 1: out here listening to the first words of their new
Speaker 1: president elect, Laichingda and the Vice Lichingda, the country's current
Speaker 1: vice president, on in an election that's seen as crucial
Speaker 1: for the future of the island and its relations with China,
Speaker 1: its mighty neighbor across the waters. Lai is viewed as
Speaker 1: a separatist by the mainland and is a fierce defender
Speaker 1: of Taiwan's sovereignty. He will take office as the prospect
Speaker 1: of an armed conflict with China becomes more real than
Speaker 1: ever before. Just days before the election, China launched a
Speaker 1: satellite over southern Taiwan that prompted the government to issue
Speaker 1: air raid alert and warnings about possible debris tumbling from
Speaker 1: the sky. And last year the island was on edge
Speaker 1: as Chinese warplanes were sent to sensitive areas around Taiwan.
Speaker 1: After visits by US and Canadian lawmakers, the tensions come
Speaker 1: down to this, China sees Taiwan as a breakaway province
Speaker 1: and has threatened to bring the island under its control
Speaker 1: by force if necessary. Taiwan has responded to this growing
Speaker 1: threat by raising the island's military budget, and starting this year,
Speaker 1: the island's government is expanding its compulsory military service from
Speaker 1: four months to a year. While surveys show Taiwanese support
Speaker 1: the extension of military service, it raises a new threat
Speaker 1: in the minds of many. The prospect of a war
Speaker 1: with China is on the rise, and their suns could
Speaker 1: very likely be on the front lines. Today we hear
Speaker 1: how two families on the island are responding to that
Speaker 1: fear in very different ways. Here's Bloomberg's Juan chin Hua
Speaker 1: reporting in Taipei.
Speaker 2: It's a Sunday Saturday in a park in the southern
Speaker 2: part of Taipei, and thousands of families are here. They're
Speaker 2: waiting in line in front of tents with boothe underneath
Speaker 2: looks like a ferries on their way. This kid is
Speaker 2: complaining about waiting in line for too long, But what
Speaker 2: are they waiting for? Exactly a stick of cotton candy
Speaker 2: or right on, a merry go round. Actually, if you
Speaker 2: walk a little bit closer, you'll realize what's really happening here.
Speaker 2: It's not as joyful as you might think from far away.
Speaker 3: I make that.
Speaker 2: What's actually happening here is very intense. The instructors for
Speaker 2: the events are teaching a group of kids how to
Speaker 2: prepare for a potential missile attack. Because the purpose of
Speaker 2: this whole event today isn't calivor rights and games. It's
Speaker 2: a civil defense fair. Its goal is to help families
Speaker 2: and especially children, prepare for a potential attack on Taiwan.
Speaker 2: Instructor is guiding the kids with a loud speaker. You're
Speaker 2: brave hiders. When two sides are fighting in the air,
Speaker 2: you will hear this siren and you will know there's
Speaker 2: a missile from the enemy coming towards you. In this drill,
Speaker 2: kids are sitting on a white sheet of fabric and
Speaker 2: preparing to hide beside stools which are covered in black
Speaker 2: plastic bags. There are meant to mimic buildings in the city.
Speaker 2: Most kids look to be around the elementary school age,
Speaker 2: and one of them is taking this very seriously, not
Speaker 2: giggling or moving around like some other kids are. I
Speaker 2: turned to him and asked for his name and age.
Speaker 3: Raymans well Jing and I am Raymond. I am nine
Speaker 3: years old this year.
Speaker 2: The instructor tells Raymond and the other kids exactly how
Speaker 2: to position their bodies for what would come Next to
Speaker 2: the instructor is saying, when missiles explode, there will be
Speaker 2: strong lights, loud noises, and blast waves that will hurt
Speaker 2: our bodies. We have to take five actions. First, we
Speaker 2: have to protect our eyes by covering them. Second, we
Speaker 2: had to cover our ears with our thumbs to prevent
Speaker 2: damage from loud noises. Next, we open our mouth slightly
Speaker 2: to prevent the shock from damaging our internal organs. Raymond
Speaker 2: follows the instructions to the letter. A couple of minutes later,
Speaker 2: my producer Young asks him, why do you think we
Speaker 2: need to practice this?
Speaker 3: Yeah, lookt if because if there's an air attack, we
Speaker 3: can immediately take shelter.
Speaker 2: She follows up, where would an air attack come from?
Speaker 3: Some go Ho Chi, Tago, China or other countries.
Speaker 2: Later on, Raymond tells me more about himself. He's in
Speaker 2: the fourth grade and he loves arts and crafts. What
Speaker 2: she haunts on me.
Speaker 3: Now, I like to make small models using a three
Speaker 3: D printer.
Speaker 2: As for what he's been up to at the Civil
Speaker 2: Defense Fair all day. He runs us through the other
Speaker 2: activities he has done.
Speaker 4: Well.
Speaker 3: If I went to the Maze, Adventure a Good Helper,
Speaker 3: find a Shelter, Magical Signpost, Brave Hiders, and the Adventure Valley.
Speaker 2: Y'all asks him which one he likes the best.
Speaker 3: I like Adventure Valley the most because they gave me
Speaker 3: a hiking pole.
Speaker 2: Raymond has spent his afternoon hopping from booth to booths
Speaker 2: to learn how to find shelters under attack, how to
Speaker 2: properly bandage a wound or injury, and how to pack
Speaker 2: an emergency backpack. At the backpack booth, he was told
Speaker 2: to bring a hand generator for electricity and a photo
Speaker 2: of his family in case they got separated. Man Raymond
Speaker 2: has been collecting stamps for completing each of these training sessions.
Speaker 2: He's got eight stamps in total now and he's ready
Speaker 2: to collect his price.
Speaker 5: Hells a mon, Thank Emma Way.
Speaker 2: Raymond gets a box of cookies, and he doesn't look
Speaker 2: too excited. He might be disappointed with what he's leaving with,
Speaker 2: but his mom, who brought him here, feels like we
Speaker 2: got exactly what she came for.
Speaker 6: Raymond and Mama are supreat So I'm Raymond's mother. My
Speaker 6: name is Grace. This is our first time attending this event.
Speaker 6: We're here because Raymond never participated in this type of activity,
Speaker 6: and so I would like him to experience it.
Speaker 3: Sounds that San down came.
Speaker 2: We watched the.
Speaker 6: News together, and the kids know that there are wars
Speaker 6: outside Taiwan. It's important for him to understand what civil
Speaker 6: defense is and it's an issue that everybody, both adults
Speaker 6: and kids, should care about.
Speaker 2: Grace is Rayman not only needs to be prepared to
Speaker 2: hide from the enemy one day, but also to fight them.
Speaker 3: Just a pritriochal what you want?
Speaker 6: I think he has to do his military service.
Speaker 2: Grace thinks doing this service is important for her son.
Speaker 2: We turn to Raymond and ask, have you ever thought
Speaker 2: about becoming a soldier?
Speaker 4: Mom?
Speaker 3: I will do it. Everybody will do it.
Speaker 2: Aren't you scared? We ask? He shakes his head. No,
Speaker 2: Raymond may not be scared, but what about his mom.
Speaker 2: She's facing the prospect of sending her only child into
Speaker 2: military service at a time when Taiwan faces an escalating
Speaker 2: threat from China.
Speaker 6: Is your own passion I wouldn't worry. In fact, I
Speaker 6: want him to do it. I think this experience can
Speaker 6: help him mature. It's necessary and anyway, one should be
Speaker 6: able to join the military, whether you're a boy or
Speaker 6: a girl. As long as you're willing to, you should
Speaker 6: go for it. Because war affects everybody, so it's everyone's business.
Speaker 6: After all, we're all Taiwanese. This is our homeland.
Speaker 3: Death.
Speaker 1: We hear from another Taiwanese family responding to the same
Speaker 1: threat in a totally different way after the break.
Speaker 2: While Raymond's mom, Grace, who we met at the Civil
Speaker 2: Defense fair, seems to be mentally preparing herself to send
Speaker 2: her son off to do his military duty less than
Speaker 2: ten miles away, another mom, Olivia, is responding to the
Speaker 2: same threat a different way. Okay, this is Olivia. I
Speaker 2: met her at an immigration agency that helps people get
Speaker 2: citizenship in foreign countries. Olivia has a son in elementary school, Ted.
Speaker 2: When I ran into her at the agency that morning,
Speaker 2: she was seeking the best strategy for Ted to avoid
Speaker 2: military service. But you can't just leave Taiwan. There's a
Speaker 2: penalty for draft dodgers. So Olivia wants to make sure
Speaker 2: test name never makes it on the list. Yeah.
Speaker 7: I see the news about the war in Ukraine and
Speaker 7: I see people could be enlisted anytime, whether you like
Speaker 7: it or not. It makes me think about us. I mean,
Speaker 7: of course, you don't want to send your child to war.
Speaker 2: Olivia wants to get Ted an official statf as known
Speaker 2: as Oversees Taiwanese, and to do this, Ted needs to
Speaker 2: meet a bunch of requirements. First, he needs to be
Speaker 2: a permanent resident of somewhere else. Second, he needs to
Speaker 2: leave Taiwan before the end of the year when he
Speaker 2: turns fifteen. And then he has to spend less than
Speaker 2: six months in Taiwan each year until he's thirty seven.
Speaker 2: There are even more requirements than this, but these are
Speaker 2: the ones Olivia is focused on. At the moment. This
Speaker 2: all sounds like a ton of work. And when I
Speaker 2: point out to Olivia in the immigration director she's meeting
Speaker 2: with that Ted is only less than five years away
Speaker 2: from having to leave Taiwan, they freak out.
Speaker 7: I never feel so pressured by time before you bring
Speaker 7: up this question. Five years is not very long. It's
Speaker 7: actually very short. It's the end of the year already.
Speaker 2: But Olivia tells me they are already on their way.
Speaker 2: Her family's got citizenship in two countries, Turkey and one
Speaker 2: African country. She wouldn't give me more details on the
Speaker 2: African passport, she tells me they just straight up paid
Speaker 2: for them. As for the Turkish ones, they got them
Speaker 2: through an investment program called Golden Visa. Basically, to get
Speaker 2: the passports, Olivia and her husband put half a million
Speaker 2: US dollars in a Turkish back for a two year
Speaker 2: fixed deposit. But they're not stopping here, Olivia tells me
Speaker 2: they're also going through the process for citizenship for two
Speaker 2: more countries. She invited me and my producer Young back
Speaker 2: to her house to hear more. The family lives in
Speaker 2: a new, luxurious apartment that stands in the heart of
Speaker 2: type city. We were amazed by how fancy and big
Speaker 2: the apartment was. It's almost three hundred square meters or
Speaker 2: over three thousand square feet. This is where we meet
Speaker 2: the rest of Olivia's family. Her husband, Oliver, is the
Speaker 2: CEO of a local tech company, and their son Ted.
Speaker 4: What's your name?
Speaker 8: Ted? Ted?
Speaker 5: Ooh, so, how old are you ten?
Speaker 4: So it's fifth grade?
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 2: Ted tells me she switched from a local school to
Speaker 2: an international school about two years ago.
Speaker 4: Which one do you like better, the local school or
Speaker 4: international school?
Speaker 7: Oh, why tell me about it.
Speaker 5: There's more subjects, and there's less homework and and.
Speaker 8: No holidays.
Speaker 2: Ted's father, Oliver tells us they've been talking about the
Speaker 2: idea of leaving Taiwan since Ted was born.
Speaker 8: And the first of all is like, I think the
Speaker 8: risk of war we're facing, you know, military threats from China.
Speaker 8: I think most of the parents worry about this, worry
Speaker 8: about us and the future of our children.
Speaker 2: In the past few years, they have started taking steps
Speaker 2: to prepare Ted for life outside of Taiwan. They sent
Speaker 2: them to summer camps in various countries, shift the schools,
Speaker 2: and about a year ago he started fencing lessons because
Speaker 2: his mom tells me fencing is an international sport. Ted
Speaker 2: what he likes about it holding the.
Speaker 5: Sword, It's not very hard, and it's also to get
Speaker 5: new friends when fencing.
Speaker 2: But a new school, new summing camps, and new hobbies
Speaker 2: aren't the things that will help Ted legally avoid or
Speaker 2: delay military service. For that, the family need to secure
Speaker 2: citizenship outside of Taiwan. Olivia tells me. They apply for
Speaker 2: Turkish passports only because it's fast, easy, and rather cheap
Speaker 2: for them, so that if things really deteriorate in Taiwan,
Speaker 2: they at least have somewhere to stay legally. But now
Speaker 2: they have their side set on other countries that they
Speaker 2: think can offer Ted more. For example, Portugal. Here's Olivia again.
Speaker 4: Now, since the risk between Taiwan and China, we are
Speaker 4: considering sending him aboard when he is high school. Then
Speaker 4: everything's like we are planning but not confirmed.
Speaker 2: But it's not just Portugal they're looking at. Australia is
Speaker 2: also on their list. We asked Ted how much he
Speaker 2: knows about his parents' plan for him.
Speaker 7: Do you know you have Turkish citizenship?
Speaker 4: Do you want to live maybe if there's.
Speaker 5: Better life in somewhere, like better education and better friends.
Speaker 2: No matter where Ted ends up, his family's priority is clear.
Speaker 2: We want to use whatever they have on him to
Speaker 2: keep him out of the military and away from the
Speaker 2: potential risk of fighting a war against China.
Speaker 8: We don't want our children suffer from those war. We
Speaker 8: want to protect them, not to have our kids to
Speaker 8: protect our country. We would rather to protect our kids.
Speaker 2: We call it a knight in the lovely music that
Speaker 2: takes place for us on his piano. Of course, using
Speaker 2: your wealth to shield your children from military service and
Speaker 2: your family from a possible war is a path only
Speaker 2: available to a very very small number of Taiwanese families.
Speaker 2: Most families are like Raymonds. They can avoid to leave,
Speaker 2: and so they're just trying to prepare themselves and their
Speaker 2: children for the unthinkable, a war with China, even if
Speaker 2: that remains a remote possibility tea anytime soon.
Speaker 1: That's Juan chin Hua from Bloomberg. This episode was produced
Speaker 1: by Young Young She and Wan chen Hua reported the story.
Speaker 1: Our editor is Caitlin Kenney, along with m O'Brien and
Speaker 1: Dan Tien Kate. Sound design and mixing was by Young
Speaker 1: Young and Alexander Sugura. Blake Maples is our sound engineer.
Speaker 1: Sage Bauman is the head of Bloomberg Podcast and a
Speaker 1: huge thanks to our colleagues for their help in making
Speaker 1: this episode, including Samson, Ellis, Bi Jung, Young, Bonnie Ao,
Speaker 1: and Angela Wong. See you tomorrow.